Wednesday, December 23, 2015

Hillary Clinton Vows To Close Every Public School In The Country

I know, seems like crazy talk - and yet, here it is, in plain English:



The Federalist, a conservative Internet outlet, puts the Clinton comment in perspective: 

According to U.S. Department of Education statistics, there were just over 98,000 public schools in the U.S. as of the 2011-2012 school year, the most recent year for which complete data are available. Under Hillary Clinton’s proposed education plan to shutter all average and below average schools, that would mean that nearly 50,000 schools would have to be shut down, assuming that the median and average national school performance were roughly equal. Nearly two-thirds of those schools targeted by Clinton’s proposal–over 30,000–would be elementary schools.

Well, that's how the plan would play out initially.

But then, after you've closed half the schools in the country, you'd have to re-calculate the whole thing, as Mercedes Schneider points out:

A numeric average is a relative statistic. If I have a set of numeric values and I calculate an average using the set, by definition, some individual values will fall below average, and likely, some will be right on the average. If I remove these below-average and average values, the original average does not remain fixed– and if I average the remaining originally-above-average values, some will newly be below average, and likely, some exactly average.

...


Of course, closing “below average” and “average” schools only leads to a recalculated average among remaining schools– some of which would be “below average” upon recalculation– and some of which would likely be exactly average.

In short, by the end of the evaluation process, if we keep closing schools that are "less than average" we will end up with just one school left.

But even then, that school wouldn't be above average, since it would be the only one left.

As Schneider notes, under the Clinton education plan for closing schools, that one would have to go too.

An entire school closure plan for the country -  that, it seems, is what Hillary Clinton intends.

That would be the Obama administration's Race to the Top policies on super steroids.

Now perhaps she misspoke, perhaps she's tired from all the time and energy spent on the campaign trail, perhaps she doesn't understand what the word "average" means in the way that she used it.

Perhaps.

Or perhaps she is the same pro-charter, pro-privatization shill who sat on the board of Walmart for all those years getting set to do to the country's public school system what George W. Bush and Barack Obama could only dream of doing.

I'll say this:

I don't trust her, I don't like her and I wouldn't vote for her for any reason.

After this latest Clinton mess, I am so glad my union, the American Federation of Teachers, already endorsed her during this summer, a full year+ before the election.

One final point:

Since her pal, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has said multiple times he wants to "break" the public school "monopoly" and called for the "death penalty" for "failing" schools, perhaps Clinton can hire him as secretary of education to carry out her closure policies?

Given the destruction Clinton plans for the public school system, Cuomo sounds like he would be perfect for the job of Head School Closer.

Assuming Cuomo's not in prison, that is...or Hillary isn't, for that matter...

16 comments:

  1. Vote for Trump he vowed not to close any public schools and he will treat nyc schools the best as he is a life long new yorker. Vote for Trump people Hillary is a fake we all know that she is the typical politician who will have to do what her donations tell her to do whereby trump will not have to listen to the lobby jerks aka reformies

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    1. hey clueless "huh" it means vote for trump...what do you not understand...no wonder the ny post has a feast with teachers like you

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    2. I will vote for Trump -only if his first order of business if to get some of his closed casinos rebuilt and reopened in Atlantic City.

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  3. Hillory does seem beholden to corporate interests. She will say what she needs to get elected, then govern as the "money" people tell her to govern.

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  4. Hillary is ignorant. Trump was correct in assigning blame to Ms. Clinton for the hundreds of thousands of people who were killed in Syria and Iraq. Her mismanagement and misguided foreign policy decisions led to the chaos that ensued in the Middle East.

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  5. voting for trump - Prediction - trump will be the next president. Obama will be the last American President. Trump will win in a landslide election. He will issue a record number of executive orders; the country will change drastically. No one else who is even remotely qualified to do the job.
    Deal with China - President Trump
    Deal with Russian - President Trump
    Deal with ISIS - President Trump
    Deal with illegal immigration- President Trump.
    Trump will be the next President.

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  6. The UFT has endorsed Hillary and supports her intention to close all NY city public schools, so stay tuned!

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  7. Trump for President?
    I can't believe that Americans are really taking this man seriously.
    Are we so against having an intelligent WOMAN be president, that we will vote for just about anybody?

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    1. An incompetent criminal woman is the accurate characterization of Hillary Clinton's pedigree.

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  8. Shocked by the venom in your words 6:56, well go ahead and vote for Trump. We went from a budget surplus in the old Clinton administration to a recession under Bush. America let's keep turning back the clock. We never learn. I am signing off.

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    1. You apparently live a very sheltered and coddled life. Deal with it! Hillary is a pathological liar.

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  9. So glad that Randi endorsed Clinton. Another reason why I would love to withhold my dues if the Supreme Court rules for workers.

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  10. This is one case where I would be willing to give Clinton the benefit of the doubt: I don't think she was intending to establish a policy that would actually close all, or, even many schools that are below average.

    I don't know that I'd expect her to say she wouldn't close any schools but I think she was trying to say only that she would still consider a policy that would close or restructure "struggling" schools.

    Not well-said but I don't think, a policy statement.

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  11. I'm a teacher and a sensible conservative. My vote too is with Trump.

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  12. It becomes the responsibility of the selected candidate to actually think about the completion of the economic goals and to bring about certain changes in it.

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